Good documentaries
These are a few of my favorite documentaries. Some are just entertaining, some are powerful, and all are worth your time.
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23 titles
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRobert McNamaraJohn F. KennedyFidel CastroThe story of America as seen through the eyes of the former Secretary of Defense under President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara.
- DirectorPatrick CreadonStarsWill ShortzKen BurnsJon StewartAn in-depth look at The New York Times' long-time crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz and his loyal fan base.
- DirectorEric ChaikinJulian PetrilloStarsJoe EdleyMatt GrahamMarlon HillA look at the obsessive world of competitive Scrabble.
- DirectorRoger NygardStarsDenise CrosbyFrank D'AmicoBarbara AdamsDenise Crosby takes a first look at the huge fans of "Star Trek" and how the series from around America has affected and shaped their lives.
- DirectorSeth GordonStarsSteve WiebeBilly MitchellMark AlpigerDie-hard gamers compete to break world records on classic arcade games.
- DirectorPatrick CadyBrit McAdamsStarsJodi BaganzDonald E. ChesebroJohn EckendorfThis documentary is about the "World's Largest Trivia Contest" held in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Eight questions per hour are asked over 90FM, the student radio station at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, for 54 hours straight. This film highlights several trivia teams and how very differently they play the contest from the more serious teams to the teams who just get together to party. For most teams, Trivia is like an annual reunion where they can get together with family and friends and have fun doing something they all love.
- DirectorDeborah Koons GarciaStarsCharles BenbrookGrace BoothGeorge W. BushTHE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled grocery store shelves for the past decade.
- DirectorMorgan SpurlockStarsMorgan SpurlockDaryl IsaacsChemeeka WalkerWhile examining the influence of the fast food industry, Morgan Spurlock personally explores the consequences on his health of a diet of solely McDonald's food for one month.
- DirectorChristopher Dillon QuinnTommy WalkerStarsPanther BiorJohn Bul DauNicole KidmanThree young men from Sudan embark on a journey to America after years of wandering Sub-Saharan Africa in search of safety.
- DirectorCharles FergusonStarsMatt DamonGylfi ZoegaAndri Snær MagnasonTakes a closer look at what brought about the 2008 financial meltdown.
- DirectorTim HetheringtonSebastian JungerStarsThe Men of Battle Company 2nd of the 503rd Infantry Regiment 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat TeamJuan 'Doc RestrepoDan KearneyA year with one platoon in the deadliest valley in Afghanistan.
- DirectorJeffrey BlitzStarsAngela ArenivarUbaldo ArenivarJorge ArenivarSpellbound follows eight teenagers on their quest to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee.
- DirectorStanley NelsonStarsRebecca MooreJanet ShularTim CarterFeaturing never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch.
- DirectorWilliam PetersStarsCharlie CobbJane ElliottMartin Luther KingAn expanded edition of William Peters's classic study of the unique eye-color lesson in prejudice and discrimination taught by Iowa schoolteacher Jane Elliott. This new edition continues the story of Elliott and her sixteen third-graders of 1970, eleven of whom returned to their hometown in 1984 for a reunion with their former teacher. Peters reports on that meeting and its evidence that the long-ago lesson has had a profound and enduring effect on the students' lives and attitudes.
- DirectorRobert KennerStarsMichael PollanEric SchlosserRichard LobbAn unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry.
- DirectorAlex GibneyStarsJohn BeardTim BeldenBarbara BoxerA documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.
- DirectorEugene JareckiStarsGore VidalJohn McCainKen AdelmanIs American foreign policy dominated by the idea of military supremacy? Has the military become too important in American life? Jarecki's shrewd and intelligent polemic would seem to give an affirmative answer to each of these questions.
- DirectorBarbara ConnellBill JerseyStarsErnie ChambersRay CristensenBill YoungdahlDuring the civil rights movement, a Lutheran minister in Nebraska sets out to integrate his church.
- DirectorStacy PeraltaStarsLaird HamiltonDarrick DoernerDave KalamaDocumentary detailing the origins and history of surf culture.
- DirectorStacy PeraltaStarsSean PennJay AdamsTony AlvaDocumentary about the pioneering 1970s Zephyr skating team.
- DirectorAaron WoolfStarsBob BledsoeEarl L. ButzDawn CheneyKing Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat-and how we farm
- DirectorDavis GuggenheimStarsCharles AdamsJonathan AlterRobert BalfanzAn examination of the current state of education in America today.
- DirectorMark VolkersStarsMark VolkersA quick look at the slums of Nairobi, Guatemala City, and Manila.